Durier
Despite the current low tide, i was lured to the idea of spending a couple of days deep in the mountains, which didn’t happen for what seems a century. It is Bruno Compagnet bday. So we went with minna Riihimaki and Julien Casagrande. We opted for the wild and far away dome de miage area. The mountains out there are dry and feeling hostile at time …The plan des glaciers refuge is among my favorite one , cozy and comfortable in a wildly scenic area. The 2 days were well spent with good people…dolce vita. the skiing marginal.
the hike to plan des glacier refuge
le refuge plan des glaciers
the durier couloir
The Black and W album
the brightest and the darkest. Black and white.
mid may powder
Michael”bird”shaffer
May powder: a mid may morning run down the cosmique
heli ski with last frontier-bell2 lodge /elemental adventure . BC
Maybe some day i will be a rich photographer i will privatize bell2 for a shredced’s invitational. All my friends-superhero-riders /skibums will come in to ski hard and party like animals. like a real ski debaucherie of sort with DJ-turbo sound and shit. It is a perfect setting, everything is there: pillows line, giant mushrooms, endless ridge lines, couloirs, faces, manucured forrest, hot tub, party igloo, heli hot springs, lodge with 3 choppers on the parking, booze….drugs?…lost on a forrested higways miiiiiles -far far away from civilization. Ski all day howl all night. Perfect.
I didnt get any sunny days whilst there, yet i skied everyday …
The staff at last frontier heliskiing is awesome, from Joss giving a perfect race tune to your skis to the hot bartenders , the cooks making amazing food, the heli pilots fast and smooth, Jamie Whiteside the guide who plays guitar ,sings song and is just awesome, Michael Brackenhofer the Austrian head guide who will show you how to ski with good style or Mike Gajda who is cutting trees ( sorry weeds) on the ski runs so it skis better….
I was hired by dmitri volkov as his personal photographer, on the first 2 days his skiing was sloppy, i was getting very annoyed. By the 3 rd day his turns were getting sharper and his style was improving. His skiing was much better. if you want to improve your skiing you can hire me, i am pretty affordable…
Until then, here are some pictures. Most of which of helicopters my new found passion. Those things are sick!
La Palud.
2 laps on a perfect marbree with good people was a great way to end my winter13 part 1. part 2 will be heli skiing in canada and then… …Haines . Not much hiking/booting so far or in the next future aside from coke chute (east side cali) in november!!!! It feels OK! Not many ski pictures today. too cold-too fast and it is february the crowd is arriving, they are here….!
A good day in la palud starts with coffee
Seth Morrison is among us
This is Luca pandolfi and Davide Capozzi doing the avalanche control
Seth enjoying his first Marbree
A good day in la palud always ends with pasta under the sun or a giant pizza in town. red wine-beer -coffee and cigs…optional!
and this is Manu sporting some Gucci
are you guys bored yet? of endless powder runs pictures? because …ha…i am not.
Those pictures were taken in the cosmique and rond.
porn
One of those days where you expect the angry inch and you get overhead blower. top to bottom. We did 3 runs.with Mina Riihimaki, Andreas Fransson, David rosenbarger and Oli Herren . This is the first lap. we did 3.
andreas fransson, david rosenbarger, oli herrer, mina riihimaki
vallee blanche
chamonix, france
grand enver
grand enver
chamonix, france
valley blanche
grand enver
valley blanche
ThE DaY THe WoRLD ENDED 21/12/13—with david rosenbarger-luca pandolfi and christian cabanilla
david rosenbarger
luca pandolfi
christian cabanilla
aiguilles rouges
to any astroman-niac climbers , the aiguilles rouges are just a pile of shiat. It is. However , this is also the best leisurely not committing- sunny side -with a view -sport climbing- alpine-cragg- in the world- that i know of. Also, a lot of the routes out there were open by Piola himself and the rock is at times surprisingly good. This round however, for my 2 days off, i had 2 goals: stay away from the crowd, get confident in placing gear without being scared of falling head first on a sharp flake . i chose to go on the tour des crochue and the aiguille de perseverance. 2 easy routes on nice looking pillars, almost un-equipped (a few 1920 charlet pitons here and there) . The route finding was fun and placing gear in grassy crack pretty entertaining. (does it work really, i dont know , i didnt fall) , but best of all, aside from a couple of chamois and marmottes , we didnt see anyone.
tour des crochues
i started with Anna on the tour des crouchues, voie escande de Galbert (1970). (right side straight up)
anna on tour des crochues
anna tour des crochues
and then with luca on perseverance , arete sud integral
luca pandolfi on perseverance
luca on perseverance
luca
a beer at lac blanc refuge
aiguille d’entreve
We wanted to climb the west face of the aiguille d’entreve but upon our arrival we realized it was more due North and being pretty cold and cloudy that day we opted for the leisurely traverse. Me and Pete had never being on it before and it was a nice surprise. It is a very esthetic ridge walk, very exposed. The surrounding being the Italian side of the mont blanc massif , it is obviously wild and beautiful …I highly recommend that traverse over the cosmique ridge on busy summer days…
thor husted , pete gaston
le ticket le rond le carre et la lune. aiguille du peigne.
If the words : slabs, traverse, roof are frightening to you. beyond reason: you should go there. It will be fun. 250 meter of slabs. open by Piola. and if it is too easy add some wet-ness into the equation . The rock is so good that if you can give it up, if you can balance your all life on that one little coffee spoon dish or crystal or what ever they call a hold then you will realize it is holding you and start to commit to the next move. and again and again and again …Of course i did not lead anything and i was cussing and puffing. i had fun. My next step is to find a tarantula and lick her ass.
Ben briggs getting ready
ben briggs stepping over the first roof.
what is supposed to be a hold
vision of hell
Thor husted sending it.
Thor husted
thor husted
thor husted.
god
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- ben briggs stepping over the first roof.
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- what is supposed to be a hold
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- vision of hell
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- Thor husted sending it.
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- Thor husted
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- thor husted
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- god
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- thor husted.
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- Ben briggs getting ready
wandering and lurking
That is all my job and the weather are allowing me to do these days. the patterns are as follow: days off= unsettled weather. work days=sunny and warm. I watched 3 seasons of “breaking bad” which I highly recommend. I drunk a few bottles of red wine. got fat , unfit and lazy. I went on nice short walks-climbs and witnessed radical climbing at the world cup, the chamois habitat, clouds and mountains, dog fight. I also took a co-worker on the cosmic ridge….
A nice morning walk before work. Taking Miguel on his first trip outside the cave.
world cup and dog fight
chamois rock and clouds
conte de la folie ordinaire
It is very luxurious to wake up-ride a train up 1000 meters and then walk on a sea of ice surrounded by huge mountains to the base of perfect granit crack and slab climbing. watch the moine crumble (hopefully noone was on the trail or climbing) and then walk back on the sea of ice, ride the train back to town and have a glass of wine at home.
And since some weirdo gave that name to the route we climbed i thought i would throw some related quotes from the Man himself : Bukowski.
“show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually dirty kitchen, and 5 times out of 9 I’ll show you an exceptional man.” “show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I’ll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
“Forgive me, I guess I am off in the head, but I mean, except for a quickie piece of ass it wouldn’t matter to me if all the people in the world died. Yes, I know it’s not nice. But I’d be as contended as a snail; it was, after all, the people who had made me unhappy.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
mer de glace
the aiguille du moine crumbling
Cedric Bernardini 